Former aide’s criminal past dogs Harper on campaign trail

OTTAWA — For the second straight day, Conservative leader Stephen Harper was confronted with questions Tuesday over whether Canadians should believe him when he says he did not know everything about the criminal past of his former senior aide, Bruce Carson.

“I think I’ve been clear,” Mr. Harper told reporters at a campaign event in Victoriaville, Que. “We knew about problems in Mr. Carson’s very distant past. We did not know about more recent things. Had I known that, I would not have hired him. And I’m obviously very disappointed to be finding out these things now.”

On Monday, it was revealed that Mr. Carson was convicted of five counts of fraud — three more than previously known — with his lawyer saying he had revealed his entire criminal record during a government security check.

The fraud convictions in 1990 stemmed from the rental of a Toyota vehicle from a car-rental company and from defrauding two different banks. Mr. Carson reportedly pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay back some funds and received 24 months probation on the condition that he continue to receive psychiatric treatment.

At the time, he was employed as a researcher for the Library of Parliament. Mr. Carson worked in the PMO from 2006 to 2008.

The PMO asked the RCMP last month to conduct an investigation when it was revealed that Mr. Carson had, in recent months, been apparently lobbying the government in relation to a company’s efforts to sell water-filtration units to aboriginal reserves. Mr. Carson’s fiance had a contract with the company and she stood to gain financially.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has pounced on the issue, telling a crowd at a rally in Newfoundland on Monday evening that the revelations raise a “fundamental question” over whether voters can trust Mr. Harper, who “talks tough on crime everywhere but in his own office.”

“I’m always willing to give a man another chance,” Mr. Ignatieff said. “But he had five convictions for fraud and he was in the inner circle of the prime minister.

“This is the fundamental question in this election. Can you trust this prime minister with power? Can you trust him to respect our democratic institutions?”

Mr. Ignatieff returned to the issue on Tuesday morning, comparing the Tories’ screening of Canadian voters who want to attend Harper’s events in this campaign to how they dealt with Mr. Carson when he was seeking employment in the prime minister’s office.

“I think we’re in a very bad place when you’ve got a prime minister who does a background check on his audience, at a democratic crowd, and doesn’t seem to do a background check on the people he hires in the Prime Minister’s Office like Mr. Carson,” said Mr. Ignatieff.

When Mr. Harper was first asked Monday about the new revelations regarding Mr. Carson, he said he had only just learned of it and that the Privy Council Office, which does security checks, would have to “look at its systems to make sure these things get caught.”

Ottawa lawyer Patrick McCann, who represents Mr. Carson, said his client still insists he disclosed his criminal past.

“He honestly believes that he did declare everything in the security application,” said Mr. McCann.